IKLA/AINAZI BORDER CROSSING POINT, Estonia/Latvia - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia opened their borders to each other at the stroke of midnight, creating the first “travel bubble” within the European Union in a bid to jump-start economies broken down by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have the little celebration because the border is now open again”, officer Martin Maestule told Reuters on Friday just after midnight as the first cars sped through on the reopened main road of the region. The Baltic neighbours opened as the EU executive seeks to coax the 27 member states to reopen internal borders and restart wider travel, albeit with safety measures such as requiring people to wear face masks on airplanes.
“The Baltic states are close partners, have a similar epidemiological situation and their economies are well integrated, so the free movement of people as well as goods is very important for the region,” said Arnoldas Pranckevicius, the European Commission representative in Lithuania. Estonia has given an emergency loan of 100 million euros to Baltic Sea shipping firm Tallink, badly hit by the region’s lockdowns, while Lithuania is setting up a state-run facility to provide loans or assume assets of key companies if they do not survive the crisis.
Why are they not wearing masks?
Holiday Holiday Latest News, Holiday Holiday Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: latimes - 🏆 11. / 82 Read more »